The panels of space dividing open office systems furniture were originally electrified by hard wiring the panels with lay-in wiring, after the office configuration had been established by positioning of the panels. The inflexibility of this arrangement led to pre-wired panels which were interconnected via electrical jumpers, such as disclosed in Siegal U.S. Pat. No. 3,841,042. This early plug-together arrangement was "handed" or gendered, with female terminals at one vertical edge of an energized panel providing electrical power for an adjacent unit, via male terminals which were plugged into it. A disadvantage of a gendered system is the requirement that all of the electrified panels of the system must be oriented such that the end of the electrical module with male terminals will receive the power source. Since the electrical modules are normally hidden within the base of a panel, the installation procedure had to be slowed in order to insure the correct alignment of each panel relative to the power source.
A next generation of electrical modularity of open office systems panels overcame the disadvantage of the gendered system by providing the panel power module with terminals of the same gender on both ends of the panel, for example, female terminals, and then providing a short panel-to-panel jumper having terminals of the opposite gender, which would be male in this example, on both of its ends. The male terminals of these arrangements are shrouded for safety, or they are constructed such that they are energized during the act of engagement and de-energized during disengagement. Examples of this type of modular electrical system are U.S. Pat. Nos. Haworth et al 4,060,294; Boundy 4,278,834; Millhimes et al 4,313,646; and Vanden Hoek et al 4,376,561. This approach achieved panel symmetry, allowing a panel to be energized from either end.
While the present symmetrical systems perform well, they do require flexible jumpers which add part and tooling costs, they add substantially to the number of parts which must be ordered, counted and installed, and they greatly increase the number of termination points having voltage drop and reliability risk. Thus, it would be desirable, and it is an object of the present invention, to provide an open office furniture system having a modular electrical system which is symmetrical, and which preserves the advantages of present symmetrical, modular electrical systems while eliminating panel-to-panel jumpers.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Briefly, the present invention is a new and improved electrified space dividing panel system which includes a plurality of vertically oriented panels each having first and second major opposed sides which define panel width and height dimensions, first and second vertically oriented edges which interconnect the first and second opposed sides and define a panel thickness dimension, and an elongated opening or wire passageway which extends between the first and second vertically oriented edges. The panels are arranged relative to one another to provide the desired office arrangement, including intersections of two, three, and four panels wherein vertically oriented edges of adjacent panels are joined via suitable connectors, such as a post, a hinge, or the like.
An electrical power module is disposed in the elongated opening or wire way of each panel to be electrified, with each power module having first and second ends, a longitudinal axis between the first and second ends, and a length dimension between the first and second ends which is substantially equal to the width dimension of the associated panel. Each electrical power module further includes a single terminal block having first and second axial ends, first and second flexible multi-conductor cables having first ends connected to the first and second axial ends of the terminal block and second ends. First and second electrical connectors are disposed at the first and second ends of the electrical power module, respectively, with the first and second electrical connectors being integrally attached to the second ends of the first and second flexible cables, respectively. The single terminal block has terminals for receiving up to and including four plug-in electrical receptacles, such as up to and including two duplex plug-in receptacles per panel side.
Each of said first and second electrical connectors has at least one set of hermaphroditic contacts surrounded by a hermaphroditic housing. With hermaphroditic contacts and hermaphroditic housings, two identical terminals may be plugged together, eliminating the prior art panel-to-panel jumper. Thus, the at least one set of hermaphroditic contacts of an electrical connector of one panel directly engages the at least one set of hermaphroditic contacts of an electrical connector of another panel, with the engagement being at a location near the adjacent vertical edges of the adjacent panels.
In a preferred embodiment of the invention, each electrical connector has first and second sets of hermaphroditic contacts each surrounded by a hermaphroditic housing, with the contacts and housings being arranged orthogonally, i.e., at right angles to one another. Two sets of hermaphroditic contacts allows branching of the electrical circuits to additional panels at an intersection of panels, and the right angle relationship of the contacts enables such branching with a minimum of flexing of the multi-conductor electrical cable which interconnects the terminal block with the electrical connectors.
With a wire way having a depth of about three inches, for example, the flexible multi-conductor cables may be made long enough to be able to adjust the effective length of each cable by about one to one and one-half inch. This will enable the engagement of electrical conductors to be made on a selected side of a support post, for example, in systems which utilize posts as connectors between adjacent panels. With narrower wire ways, an embodiment of the invention provides means in each electrical module for safely stretching each multi-conductor cable by a dimension which enables engagement to be made on either the near or far side of a post. The T-shaped configuration of each electrical connector in the preferred embodiment, enables the electrical connectors to completely encircle a post when four electrified panels meet at a panel-to-panel joint or intersection.